This invention relates to an icing composition which has a substantially temperature independent viscosity (isoviscous) such that it will remain pliable and spreadable at conditions ranging from freezer conditions to room temperature. It is especially designed for use with breakfast pastry products which are cooked, and later frozen. The frozen packaged product is then sold to the user. The consumer or user purchases the product in frozen state, thaws the product, often maintains it at refrigerated temperatures for awhile, and then may warm the product in an oven, a toaster or the like. Such products when packaged, in addition to the pastry, often contain an independent icing package.
The icing in the icing package, or pouch, is designed to be placed on the warmed pastry. However, because it is contained in the same package as the fried and frozen pastry, it necessarily follows that the icing is subjected to a wide variety of temperature conditions. Those conditions range from freezing, to thawed and refrigerated temperatures, to room temperature, and ultimately to warmed oven or toaster temperatures.
Heretofore, it has been very difficult to develop a pouched icing mix which is of suitable icing quality, after subjection to such a wide range of user conditions. Thus, in many instances, products of the type described herein, that is to say, pre-cooked and frozen breakfast pastries, have often employed a very dry, very low moisture content frosting which is spread upon the product before freezing. However, such icing mixes are of low quality, have little or no likeness to conventional icing, and are of very poor taste.
A good icing should, among other things, be soft and spreadable, but not runny at room temperature. It should have a high enough moisture content to allow for a high quality mouth feel and flavor impact; and, particularly for those which will be pouched and subjected to freezing conditions, should have stability over conditions ranging from freezing to room temperature.
Heretofore, a problem with icings which are subjected to such wide and varying conditions is that often if they are spreadable at freezing temperatures, when warmed to room temperature, they become too runny. Conversely, if they hard freeze and are not spreadable at freezer temperatures, during thawing moisture will sublime and in many instances they may become crumbly and dry. Thus, there is a real need for the development of an icing composition, especially designed for pouching and packaging with frozen pre-cooked breakfast pastries, which is substantially temperature independent with respect to its viscosity, such that it will remain pliable and spreadable even at freezing conditions, and yet also be spreadable but not too runny at temperatures ranging from refrigerator storage temperatures to room temperature.
The primary objective of the present invention is to fulfill the real and continuing need described above for a substantially temperature independent (isoviscous) viscosity icing, suitable for pouching and packaging with pre-cooked breakfast pastries.
An additional object of the present invention is to provide an icing as described above which is soft and spreadable, both at freezer conditions and which will also remain soft and spreadable but not too runny at room temperature and above.
An additional object of this invention is to provide an icing as described above which is of high quality in that it, in spite of its desirable viscosity characteristics, has both excellent mouth feel quality and good flavor impact.
An additional object of the present invention is to provide an icing composition suitable for pouching and which has the characteristics previously described, as well as the ability to withstand formula variations in order to achieve any desired flavor.
Another objective of the present invention is to provide an icing which has a frozen shelf life stability of up to at least 12 months.
An additional objective of the present invention is to prepare an icing composition of the type described which is substantially equal to icings normally used fresh in bakeries from the standpoint of translucency, color intensity, sweetness, smoothness, flavor quality, firmness and spreadability.
The method and manner of achieving each of the above objectives, will become apparent from the detailed description of the invention, which will follow hereinafter.